Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Top ten author/illustrator double acts

Chris Riddell is an accomplished graphic artist whose distinctive line drawings, with their clever caricature, fascinating detail and often enchanting fantasy elements are familiar to both children and adults.

He studied illustration at Brighton Polytechnic and has illustrated many acclaimed books for children, including two Kate Greenaway Medal winners.

Together with Paul Stewart, he is co-creator of the Far-Flung Adventures series, which includes Fergus Crane, Gold Smarties Prize Winner, Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, both Silver Nestle Prize Winners.

Riddell and Stewart are also co-creators of the bestselling Edge Chronicles series, which has sold over two million books and is now available in over thirty languages.

Riddell is also a renowned political cartoonist, whose work appears regularly in UK newspapers the Observer and the Guardian, as well as The Literary Review and The New Statesman.

At the Guardian, he named his top ten author/illustrator double acts, including:

Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Roald Dahl worked with other illustrators but it was only when he teamed up with Quentin Blake that the chemistry began to fizz. Quentin Blake is Britain's greatest living illustrator and has that special talent all the great illustrators have, of unobtrusive brilliance. He never grandstands, or overpowers the text, but quietly breathes a visual life in to it and, in so doing, makes it his own. Dahl appreciated that and held on to him for the rest of his career. A great collaboration!